As I was making a turn after leaving work, my car died. Thankfully, it was at the top of a hill. I coasted down towards the bottom of the hill and muscled the car into a parking lot. I was in a not so nice part of Springfield, so I called AAA and baked like a potato in my car for over an hour until the truck showed up. Just got home. Have only had time to check the fuses, and all are fine. Going out with a service manual to see if I can find anything.

Any help would be appreciated. The symptoms are that there is no power to the car at all. Turn the key and you get nothing. I have 12.76 volts at the battery terminals. On the way to work, it actually died for me on the highway while doing 70. I pulled over to the shoulder, and without doing anything, the car was running again. Weird.

 

Are you checking battery voltage at the battery cables or at the battery bolts? If it is a dual post battery, are you checking at the top posts? Did you check the fuses with a test light? If so, is there power at the fuses? Do your headlights work?

Possibilities include but are not limited to:
Dirty/loose battery cables
Smoked/bad fuse link
Broken internal connections in a dual-post battery

 

I am testing the voltage of the battery at the side-terminal bolts.

I checked all fuses with my multimeter set to the continuity setting. Every fuse checked out.

Originally, my headlights did not work. There was NO power to anything.

I learned that you need a T45 bit to remove the negative battery cable from the block, which I want to do to clean it. I don't have a T45, and can't go get one until tomorrow when my truck will be available to me. So, for ships and giggles, I hosed down all the grounds I could find, and the connections on the starter, with WD40 and reconnected the battery. I now have some power. The headlights will not come up, but the motors keep cycling every time I turn the key on (the DS motor gears are worn). Now, when I try to start the car, I can hear the solenoid click. I installed a battery from my GTO in the Formula to see if the car would start, and it won't...the solenoid just clicks. But, the GTO battery only shows 12.4 volts, which is a little low.

So, I'm left thinking this is either a battery or ground issue, for sure. I'll remove and more thoroughly clean the connections in the starting circuit and go from there.

Does anyone know of the positive battery cable for a TPI L98 car is still available from GM? I know it's very long and has some other wiring integrated with it. If it is available, I'll just replace it.

 

sounds more like you have a short in your wiring. possibly a fusible link by the starter is getting weak. messing with the wires may be letting it make just enough contact to click your starter solenoid.

 

Well, I have some more news.

After failing to be able to start the car with a different battery, I disconnected it again and then removed and brushed the three large connectors on the main stud of the starter motor. I also cleaned that small ground that seems to be some type of auxiliary wire off the main battery ground...it bolts to the core support.

I then reconnected the battery and tried to start the car...it fired right up.

Is this coincidence, or is it possible for dirty connections at the starter and battery posts to cause a car to die on the highway, start running on it's own, and then die for good later in the day?

Electricity and its invisible ways are a mystery to me.

 

Glad it was that simple....fusible links are a pain. i never get lucky anough for it to be a loose connection or something simple...lol.